Hulu Gets Its First Viacom, PBS Content

Hulu gets closer to its goal of offering all premium U.S. TV content with the announcement that it will carry Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with John Stewart and The Colbert Report starting today and PBS shows later this month.

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The two shows, which are Comedy Central’s most popular, are Viacom’s first participation in Hulu, something it’s been hinting at for a while now. They are also full episodes, something Viacom only recently started offering on its own site and with partners. Cable operators were none too pleased about that.

Sadly, there’s no South Park on Hulu. And it’s unclear how soon the clips will air after they broadcast — we will have to see when Monday’s episode goes live.

Hulu also said it would be showing PBS programs NOVA, Carrier, Scientific American Frontiers, and Wired Science starting later this month.

Hulu’s other partners include its founders FOX and NBC Universal, plus MGM, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Bros. Television Group, and a variety of smaller networks as well as some independent content.

Sorry for those international readers who can’t view the Hulu embed above. But keep complaining and hopefully that will change.

The problem of not being able to view Hulu internationally is solved through a few routes. A quick search on the web produced several ways to access Hulu internationally.

I’m guessing this whole issue has to do with studio and network licensing issues, rather than anything to do with Hulu itself. I mean think about it. It would be completely in hulu’s best financial interests to get global coverage – that gives them more revenues. This has to be a legal rights and distribution issue.